Alarm device



March 3, 1953 A. G. THORFE ET AL 2,630,095

ALARM DEVICE Filed Oct. 27, 1950 A A 0 v /0 2 25 INVENTORS 29 14L VIA G.771'O,QPE

BY JOHN A PHDJE N A TTOENE Y Patented Mar. 3, 1953 DEVICE Alvia G. Thorpe, Glendale,-Ga'lif.,-an'd John A. Petition, Salt Lake City, Utah Application sesame, 19.5.0, Serial 192,474

This invention relates generally tor-the art of signals, and more particularly 'to devices .Iior sis-y nailing unauthorized entry oi premises as a warning to occupants thereof,

An object of this invention i to provide an I alarm device particularly adapted, although not necessarily, for application to a closure such as the door of a private room or buildingin a manner to be automatically vactivated in response to opening movement of the closure, so as towarn any occupants of the room of any unauthorized" attempt of entry to the room. Another object of this invention is to provide an alarm device of the above described character which is a self-contained unit of comparably simple and inexpensive construction, sufficiently compact and light in weight to enable it .to be conveniently carried in the luggage of travelers, and adapted to be instantly :set and quickly ap; lied to and detached from any door of a :room, 1

to automatically function in re in-Purse .to opening movement of the door to sound an alarm tut-- flciently loud and compelling to awaken isleepers and thus protect any sleeping occupants of the room against unauthorized entry.

With these and other objects in view, this in vention resides in the combinations, arrangements and functional relationships of elements as set forth in the {following specification and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a view ,in front relegation, of one ,iorm of alarm device embodying this invention, with the device in set position and the gong of the device removed to expose its mechanism;

Figure 2 .is a transverse sectional View taken on the line 22 of Figure 1 andishowing the device ;in set position and applied to a closed door Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure "2 and thustrating the tripped position of the device to sound the alarm in response to any-opening movement of the door;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view similar to "Fig-- ure 2 and illustrating an initial setting position of the device preparatory to oneratively relating "the device to the jambof the door in response to the device attached 2 associated with a manually operable type of hell comprising a shallow, cup-shaped support .or body in in which is secured a frame H having fixed .theretoco-axially of thebody I 0, a threaded stud i2 on which is screwed a threaded sleeve 13 ,fixed co-axially in the inner side of a gong M, which, in its applied position, shown in Figure 2 closes the open side of the body,

.By means of a driving piniongear l5, a rotary clapper i6 is freely mounted on the stud l2 and .i confined between the frame II and the free end of the sleeve 13 against axial displacement. The clapper I6 is provided at its ends with loosely mounted disk-shaped weights l1 constituting hammers and adapted to successively strike an internal, fixed projection -18 in the gong l4 so :as to vibrate the latter in response to rotation .of the clapper.

it manually operable actuator 19 in the form of a curved arm is pivotaily mounted in the body 10 for movement about a fixed axis 20 and projects from the body for manual actuation in coaction with a fixed ear 21,, on the body, from the position shown in broken lines in Figure l to the position shown :in full lines in this figure, and

against the action of :a loaded coil spring 22. .A portion of the peripheral surface of the actuator i9 is formed to provide a segmental gear 23 constantly meshing with a pinion gear 24 (Figure 5) fixed to "a relatively large gear 25., the gears 24 and 25 being mounted for rotation as a unit on a fixed :stu'b shaft 26 projecting from the body In.

The gear 25 constantly meshes with a pinion gear 21 rotatably mounted on a second fixed stub shaft 28 projecting from the body I. Also :rotatably mounted on the shaft 28 is a relatively large green 29 which constantly meshes with the driving pinion gear l5. The gear 29 is open lativly connected to the gear 2?! for rotation .by :the latter in one :direction only, .by a pawl '38 pivotally mounted at 31 on the gear 29 and yieldingly urged into engagement with the teeth of :the gear 21 by a wire spring 32 fixed atone end to the gear 29 and hearing at its free end against the pawl.

"The direction in which the gear 29 will be driven by the gear 21 is such that upon movement of the actuator I 9 from its broken line position in "Figure 1 to the full line position in this figure to load the spring :22, will drive the gears 24, :25 and 21 idly from the segmental gear 23, "as the teeth of the gear 27 will click freely past the pawl .30 without transmitting movement to the gear 29, with the result that the clapper :l6 will remain at rest.

However, upon movement of the actuator 18 drawings.

from its full line position to its broken line position in Figure 1 under the action of the loaded spring 22, the gear 29 will be positively driven by the gear 2'! through the pawl 30, so as to rotate the clapper 16 at high speed for coaction of the clapper weights ll with the projection l8 in vibrating the gong to sound an alarm.

For the purpose of this invention, one end of the clapper arm 35 is provided with a keeper in the form ofa radially projecting latching lug 36 with which a detent 3! on a latching member 38 is adapted to have latching engagement to prevent rotation of the clapper I6 under the action of the spring 22. The latching member 38 and a tripping member 39 are co-axially mounted on a sleeve 43 (Figure 6) which co-acts with a spring washer 4| to yieldingly press the members together so that their confronting surfaces form a friction clutch 42 [between the members.

The sleeve 46 is freely mounted on a fixed stub shaft 65 projecting from a side of the frame ll, sothat the members 38 and 39 may either pivot as a unit on the shaft 65 under the action of the friction clutch 42, or pivot independently of each other upon overcoming the friction of the clutch.

A. coil spring Eii is secured at one end to a stop 7 pin 5i on the tripping member 39 and is connected at its other end to the frame ll so as to normally urge the member to its tripping position shown in Figure 3. The members 33 and 39 project from a side of the body i through a slot 52 in the latter, with the member 38 having a finger piece 53, and the member 39 an arm 54 of sufiicient length to overlie the jamb J of a door D when the body ii! is applied to the door adjacent to its free vertical edge as shown in the A plurality of suction cups 55 project from the back of the body H0 at circumferentially spaced locations and provide a simple and convenient means for detachably securing the device to the door for operation of the device which is as follows:

With the members 38 and 39 occupying their released position shown in Figure 3, under the action of the spring 58, and wherein the pin i rests against the back of the body iii to definitely limit such position, the detent 3? will be clear of the latching lug 36 on the clapper it so that the latter will be free to rotate.

The device may now be set for use, upon manually turning the latching member 38 on the sleeve ts in the direction of the arrow in Figure 4, and independently of the tripping member Bil, by overcoming the friction of the clutch'tZ until the detent '3'! has been moved into the path of movement of the lug 36 as shown in this figure.

the tripping member 39 is occupyingits extreme tripping position shown in Figure l, under the action of the spring 55, the latching member 38 will remain in its latching position shown in this figure, so as to prevent rotation of the clapper [6.

The manually operable actuator I8 is now moved from its broken line position to its full line position in Figure 1, so as to load the spring 22 and complete the setting of the device which may now be applied by the suction cups 55 to the closed door D of the room to be protected. As the suction cups are pressed against the door, the arm 54 of the tripping member 39 strikes the jamb J and is thus caused to turn on the sleeve ii relative to the latching member 38 in the direction of the arrow in Figure 2, to the position shown in this figure.

Should any attempt be made to gain entry by opening the door, the initial opening movement of the door as illustrated in Figure 3, will render the spring 50 free to reversely move the tripping member 39 on the sleeve 40. As the clutch 42 provides sufficient friction for the latching member 38 to move with the tripping member 33, the detent 31 of the latching member will be freed from the lug 36 of the clapper It so that the latter will be rapidly rotated under the action of the spring 22 so as to co-act with the gong projection [8 in sounding an alarm.

From the foregoing description it will be manifest that the alarm device embodying this invention may be conveniently carried about in travelers luggage so as to be available when needed, and can be instantly set and applied to any door to provide a positive and certain means for sounding an alarm should any opening movement of such door be efiected, thus providing much needed protection against unauthorized entry of premises.

What is claimed is:

1. An alarm device comprising: a support adapted to be mounted on a door; a signal mounted on said support and including an element norlnally urged to activate the signal; a latching member releasably retaining said element against activation of the signal; a tripping member engageable with the structure in which the door is mounted; means movably mounting said latching and tripping members on said support; means urging said tripping member in one direction for movement to a tripping position in response to opening movement of the door from closed position; and friction clutch operatively connecting said latching and tripping members for movement as a unit when the tripping member moves to its tripping position, so as -to free the latching member from said signal element for activation of the signal thereby, yet render the latching member independently movable to its latching position with respect to said signal element for setting the alarm.

2.'An' alarm device comprising: a support adapted to be mounted on a door; a signal mounted on said support and including an element normally urged to activate the signal; a latching member for releasably retaining said element against activation of the signal; a tripping member. engageable with the structure in which the door is mounted; means mounting said latching and tripping members for pivotal movement about a common axis on said support; means urging said tripping member in one direction for movement to a tripping position inresponse to opening movement of the door from closed position; and means frictionally engaging said latching and tripping members for movement as a unit when the tripping member moves to its tripping position, so as to free the latching memher from said signal element for actuation of the signal thereby yet render the members in dependently movable for adjustment of the latching member to its latching position with respect to said signal element to set the alarm.

3. An alarm device comprising: a support adapted to be mounted on a door; a signal mounted on said support and including an element normally urged to activate the signal; a latching member releasably retaining said element against activation of the signal; a tripping member engageable with the structure in which the door is mounted; a sleeve on which said latching and tripping members are rotatably mounted; a stud carried by the support on which said sleeve is mounted; a spring connecting said support and tripping member to urge the latter to a tripping position; and spring means mounted on said sleeve and co-acting therewith to urge the latching and tripping members into frictional engagement with sufiicient force for movement of the members as a unit when the tripping member moves to its tripping position in response to opening movement of the door from its closed position, so as to free the latching member from said signal element fOr activation of the signal thereby; said frictional engagement of the members being insufficient to resist manual adjustment of the members independently of each other so as to enable the alarm to be set by manually moving the latching member to its latching position with respect to the signal element while the tripping member is held against movement with the latching member.

4. An alarm device comprising: a support adapted to be mounted on a door; a gong mounted on said support; a rotary clapper urged to rotate in one direction to repeatedly strike said gong; a latching lever for preventing rotation of said clapper; a tripping lever having an arm engageable with the structure in which the door is mounted; means pivotally mounting said levers about a common axis on said support; means coacting with the tripping lever to urge same in one direction for movement to a tripping position; and means yieldingly pressing said levers into engagement to provide a friction clutch between the levers by which same are caused to move as a unit when the tripping lever moves to its tripping position in response to opening movement of the door from its closed position, so as to free the latching lever from the clapper for sounding of the alarm; said clutch enabling said levers to be independently adjusted manually for movement of the latching lever to its latching position.

5. An alarm device comprising: an audible signal adapted to be mounted on a closure; means for releasably retaining said signal against activation; trip means engageable with the structure in which the closure is mounted; means operable to move said trip means to a tripping position upon opening movement of the closure from its closed position; means operatively connecting said retaining and trip means for movement as a unit when the trip means moves to its tripping position, so as to free said retaining means from said signal and enable the latter to sound the alarm; said last means enabling the said retaining means to be moved independently of the trip means for setting of the alarm by adjustment of the retaining means to prevent activation of the signal.

6. An alarm device comprising: an audible signal adapted to be mounted on a closure; means for releasably retaining said signal against activation; trip means engageable with the structure in which the closure is mounted; means operable to move said trip means to a tripping position upon opening movement of the closure from its closed position; a friction clutch operatively connecting said retaining and trip means for movement as a unit when the trip means moves to its tripping position, so as to free said retaining means from said signal and enable the latter to sound the alarm; said friction clutch enabling the retaining means to be moved independently of the trip means for setting of the alarm by adjustment of the retaining means to prevent activation of the signal.

ALVIA G. THOR-PE. JOHN A. PADJEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 428,198 Allen May 20, 1890 2,486,139 Feldman Oct. 25, 1949 

